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Just more stories to trick young girls into obedience.
I don’t want to be saved by some knight in shining armor. I’d like to be the one in the armor, and I’d like to be the one doing the saving.
It is extravagant, gaudy, a reminder to the rest of us that no matter how hard we try, we will never be completely worthy of that kind of wealth, that privilege.
“Happiness is a bonus, Sophia. You’re not entitled to it, and the sooner you accept that, the easier your life will be.”
“Do I smell? I just bathed last week.”
“Oh no. We can’t have that. What would people say if they knew about my droopy stockings?”
It feels like another part of me is being changed to fit someone else’s vision of what is pretty.
I’m reminded that this isn’t about what I want or what I like. It’s about what everyone else thinks is best, and I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.
Would Cinderella really have been delighted to see so many girls unhappy, dreading this moment?
“Just a trinket. It pales in comparison to you.”
If we were still doing this when young Sophia got older.
“She said if, not when. I miss her every single day, but I hate that she planted such nonsense in your head.”
I don’t dare tell him that once while I sat in her lap she told me that if I ever went to the ball, I should set the palace on fire and dance on the ashes.
It feels wrong to ask you to deny who you are, but it’s necessary.”
“It’s not fair, but I’d rather see you unhappy than imprisoned or killed.”
“He is not the only one who thinks solely of himself.”
I—I’m sorry I can’t be who you want me to be.”
The carriage, decorated with lavender curtains and matching ribbons, sits there like a beautiful vision ready to ferry me into a nightmare.
“It’s not. And I know you don’t want to hear this, but this isn’t what I want.”
This isn’t a dream; it is a nightmare made real, and there is no waking up.
“From God, the king; from the king, law.”
“That something could look so beautiful and still be a nightmare is terrifying,”
“I bet he thinks his name is Shit,” I say to Luke. “It’s the first thing you say whenever you see him.”
They were desperate, and Charming told them he could save them if they made him king.
“The truth is tricky. People want to know it, but when they do, sometimes they wish they didn’t.”
If remembering Cinderella’s mother is considered an act of defiance, I’m happy to do it.
“I think we need to burn the whole thing to the ground and start over. The entire system, the ideals that have been woven into this society. It all has to go.”
“But sometimes that’s the only way to get things done. Take the risk, light the fuse. Onward.”
“When the leader of this kingdom treats women as property, it sets an awful precedent. People think it’s okay to do the same.”
Just because you don’t believe it doesn’t mean it can’t be true.”
I bite my tongue, feeling that familiar stab of shame. I hate that I still feel this way even this far from Lille.
But the difference is that I want to be found.
“I will find myself.”
She makes me feel seen. Alive. Hopeful.
“Didn’t you invite her to the ball? That implies she had the right to leave if she wanted to.”
“There is always fear, always doubt,” Amina says. “The only thing that matters is that you push forward.
snow-white
“I think we sometimes make the mistake of thinking monsters are abhorrent aberrations, lurking in the darkest recesses, when the truth is far more disturbing. The most monstrous of men are those who sit in plain sight, daring you to challenge them.
“I don’t pity their ignorance,” I say. “They see what’s going on.
You’re not special, Sophia. You’re just a silly girl like the rest of us.”
I lost myself in caring for you. I cared for you so much I forgot that I deserve to be happy too.
But if I wait until I’m ready, I may never go.”
“Maybe don’t try to stab every man you see,” Amina shoots back.
I didn’t come here to care about what anyone else thinks.
I wonder if maybe, after all these years, he’s begun to believe his own lies.
He cannot exist without you.
“Only tyrants deal in the sale of human beings.”
I am left just as I am, and after all this time, I know it is enough.
The king may be a pile of ash, but his ideas are still alive and well.
She and I at the edge of an uncertain future, but one that is bright for the first time.
